


I wanna see you smile

by cold_nights_summer_days



Series: Anchor [13]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Comfortember, Day Twelve, Gen, I really don't know how to tag do I, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Therapy, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, can't believe I'm still here y'all, therapy/emotional support pet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27528793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_nights_summer_days/pseuds/cold_nights_summer_days
Summary: Day twelve: therapy/emotional support pet - Peter's therapist reccommends getting a therapy animal.---title from happier by bastille.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Anchor [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996039
Comments: 6
Kudos: 151
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	I wanna see you smile

**Author's Note:**

> aloha! happy thursday, my dudes (I honestly wish I'd thought of doing that yesterday. dang it.)! today I actually have a couple people to thank for helping me with this idea!
> 
> first off, many many thanks to [ironstark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironstark/pseuds/ironstark) because she basically gave me this idea and I had so much fun talking it out with you last night!! you give like the best advice ever, and I'm super lucky to have you as my writing buddy <3
> 
> second, this guy doesn't have an ao3 (thank god) but thanks to one of my friends for letting me use our fake cat in a fanfic. halo is infintely lucky to have us as her weird fake parents. 
> 
> hopefully you enjoy this (sorry it's a tad shorter than I'd have liked, but it was late and I had class in the morning)
> 
> (p.s, there is a very very brief mention of euthanization, but it doesn't actually happen. stay safe around your triggers, guys!)

The animal shelter was relatively busy for a Tuesday night, or at least busier than Tony thought it would be when he picked that day to go. His goal had been to avoid crowds and the “GUESS WHO’S HERE” tweets that came with them. The last thing he wanted was some asshole journalist trying to bother them while they were trying to adopt a pet.

Now, you might be wondering why they were even there to adopt a pet in the first place. It was rather simple, actually. Tony had talked to Peter’s therapist (nothing outside of patient confidentiality, just a quick conversation to make sure that he was doing better), and she had suggested a therapy animal.

“They can really help with high anxiety,” She’d said, and Tony was sold on the idea. Peter hadn’t taken any convincing, either, because he’d never actually had a pet before. May and Ben’s apartment hadn’t allowed pets, and none of his foster families had them either.

Before heading to the shelter they’d agreed to get a cat because a dog wasn’t really the best choice for a high-rise penthouse in the middle of Manhattan. Tony hadn’t really had a family pet either, but he’d had FRIDAY compile a list of articles for him to read about taking care of cats, so hopefully that would count.

“What kind of animal are you looking for today?” The receptionist asked politely once they’d finally been called to the front desk. Tony briefly explained the situation and he nodded before taking them to the back.

“We actually have quite a few animals that get adopted out as therapy pets. We don’t have many cats available right now after the adoption fair last week, but they’re all sweethearts. I really hope that we can find a good fit for you guys,” She said as they walked. She wasn’t wrong when she said that most of them were adopted last week; most of the cages in the room were empty.

From a cage in the back came a melancholy meow, and Peter was drawn to it instantly. Tony watched, slightly worriedly, as Peter stuck his fingers through the small bars. Despite knowing that he would heal incredibly quickly, he didn’t like the idea of Peter getting hurt (even just slightly).

“I wouldn’t do that,” The receptionist cut in, reaching out a hand as if to stop him.

“But—” Peter started, leaning back to check the cat’s name tag, “—Halo is so sweet.”

“Halo?”

“Yeah, that’s what her name tag says. Come look,” Peter waved Tony over to see Halo, and Halo was already nuzzling into Peter’s hand. The tip of her left ear was missing, and there were patches of fur that hadn’t quite grown back right after too many street fights, but Peter was already smitten. 

“Is this the one you want?” Tony asked even though he already knew the answer. Peter turned around with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” He smiled. The receptionist sighed in relief, and Peter gave him a questioning look.

“It’s—it was Halo’s last day here,” He said.

“Last day?”

“If she didn’t get adopted by the end of the day . . . she would have been euthanized. People don’t really want black cats, especially not ones that used to be street cats.”

Oh. _Oh._

The mood in the room turned instantly sour, and the receptionist cleared his throat awkwardly before leading them back to the front to fill out the adoption paperwork. Tony filled it out quickly, and soon enough, they were on the way home.

Halo was meowing pitifully from her cat carrier in the backseat. Tony would have let Peter let her out to sit in the front seat if he wasn’t afraid of how difficult it would be to get her back in long enough to get up to the penthouse. Halo didn’t stop meowing until they got home and opened the door.

Except she didn’t get out, choosing instead to stare out at the living room. Peter sat on the floor in front of the carrier trying to coax her out with treats, and after about twenty minutes, it actually worked. Halo only moved far enough to sit with Peter on the carpet, once again nuzzling into his side and starting to purr again.

“She really seems to like you,” Tony commented idly. Peter shrugged.

“It’s probably because we’re similar.”

“How do you mean?”

“I don’t know. We both lived on the streets for awhile, both got saved at the last moment. Maybe Halo knows that.”

“Maybe,” Tony agreed. He hadn’t considered how similar the two actually were until then. Hopefully they weren’t _too similar_. Tony didn’t really need two nocturnal creatures wreaking havoc at three in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly just love the idea of them getting a cat???? it's so soft???? 
> 
> If you want to read more, check out/subscribe to the series!
> 
> [Here's my tumblr! ](https://funky--lil--spider.tumblr.com/)  
>    
> Also, I've opened my comissions if you'd be interested in that!
> 
> [Support me on Ko-Fi, or commission a fic!](https://ko-fi.com/cold_nights_summer_days)


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